


Studio Love

by thisiswherethefishlives



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: FitzMack - Freeform, Getting Together, M/M, Tumblr Prompt, Undercover Mission, Undercover as Married, domestic AU, large man in a tiny apartment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-05
Updated: 2015-02-05
Packaged: 2018-03-10 14:02:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3293048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisiswherethefishlives/pseuds/thisiswherethefishlives
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The biggest issue with this mission isn’t going to be the cramped quarters or being paired up with Fitz. No, the issue here is that it’s his mission to watch Fitz’s back as he infiltrates the Roxxon Energy Corp. headquarters, to make sure that he stays under the radar, and to play the role of his doting husband. That last part shouldn’t be difficult, especially considering the fact that he’s been gone on Fitz since they first met three years ago. The hard part will be remembering that as far as Fitz is concerned, it’s all an act.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Studio Love

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [isilentsquealing](http://isilentsquealing.tumblr.com/) for sending me the following prompt (it was too cute to pass up):
> 
> Imagine FitzMack (domestic!AU?) dealing with the troubles of an apartment that's too small. Just barely squeezing past each other while preparing things in the kitchen. the both of them just barely sharing the bathroom to brush their teeth before bed. & like the living room would probably be the biggest room in the apartment & that's where they eat & play games & watch movies & maybe sleep. (& it could either pre-established relationship or them just friends crushing on each other)

**January 1st**

Stepping through the doorway, Mack can’t help the weary sigh that works its way out his mouth. This is by far the smallest apartment he’s ever been inside, and knowing that he’s going to have to live here with Fitz for the duration of the mission? It’s going to be torture.

“It’s not my fault! Before you say anything, this is  _not_ my fault!”

Dropping his duffel to the floor, Mack focuses on the task of locking the door behind him before turning to face Fitz. From the look on his face, he’s not thrilled about the situation either.

“In my defense, when Coulson first set up this mission it was a solo, so it just made sense to go with a studio apartment… Had I known that you would be joining me, I would have looked for a larger place… two bedrooms and all that…”

He trails off without elaborating further - Fitz’s face is flushed, and the way that he’s avoiding eye contact is something that has Mack’s stomach twisting because it shouldn’t be this awkward.

“Hey, it’s fine. We’ll be here for a month tops, and if we’re going to be playing at being married it will raise less eyebrows if we’re actually sharing a bed.”

“What? Whaaa - no! No, I was going to sleep on the floor… I brought a sleeping bag and everything!”

The look that Fitz is shooting him is a mixture of scandalized and confused, but at least he’s not avoiding eye contact anymore.

“Turbo… first rule of apartment living is that there are no secrets from your neighbors. You have to go in assuming that everyone is nosy, and that they will keep better track on you than S.H.I.E.L.D. will. You and me? As far as everyone here is concerned, we are madly in love - I don’t know what relationships are like in Scotland, but people around here generally share beds when they are happily married.”

It’s pretty cute, the way that Fitz is gaping at him like a fish, but that’s nothing new.

The biggest issue with this mission isn’t going to be the cramped quarters or being paired up with Fitz. No, the issue here is that it’s his mission to watch Fitz’s back as he infiltrates the Roxxon Energy Corp. headquarters, to make sure that he stays under the radar, and to play the role of his doting husband. That last part shouldn’t be difficult, especially considering the fact that he’s been gone on Fitz since they first met three years ago. The hard part will be remembering that as far as Fitz is concerned, it’s all an act.

**January 15th**

“Ugh. I didn’t anticipate how intricate the security would be at work.”

Flopping down onto the futon, Fitz makes quite the picture as he works at the buttons on his shirt before throwing it in the direction of the laundry hamper. It doesn’t quite go in, and Mack makes a mental note to toss it in when he’s done with dinner.

“Rough day, Turbo?”

Fitz mumbles into the mattress, and after living together for the past two weeks Mack knows better than to expect anything more coherent until after he’s eaten. Stirring the marinara sauce, he checks the timer on the boiling pasta before clearing their tiny kitchen table of Fitz’s research to make room for the plates and silverware. He gave up on the idea of Fitz keeping his papers tidy after the first few days… no matter how many times they get put away, the documents always end up right where they started - spread out all over the apartment.

It’s all terribly domestic. Mack makes the meals and keeps the apartment tidy while Fitz goes off to work each day to bring home the bacon. The fact that they are both agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the middle of an undercover mission doesn’t really help with keeping Mack grounded in reality. It all just… feels natural. It feels right to hand Fitz his lunch each morning before he goes to work, and it always feels so good when Fitz comes home to him at the end of each day. It feels like a relationship, and it’s simultaneously the best and the worst thing to ever happen to him.

Christ, even the sleeping arrangement is domestic. Even though Fitz went out of his way at first to stay to one side of the mattress, it’s just fact at this point that Mack will wake up every morning with a small Scottish man latched onto him like a barnacle. It’s all tempting, and Mack keeps  _wanting_  - he wants to press back against Fitz, wants to lick against his skin, to memorize every inch of pale skin and lean muscle. He wants so much, and that’s the danger. None of this is real.

The buzzer goes off and Mack goes to drain the pasta, portioning out their dinner before pulling Fitz from their bed. It’s not a long way to lead Fitz, just a matter of steps, but Fitz whines like he’s being asked to run a mile. There’s been a lot of eye-rolling around the apartment on Mack’s end lately… A lot of eye-rolling, and a lot of jerking off in the too-small shower while Fitz is off infiltrating the Big Bad. He watches Fitz dig into the pasta, taking him in as he groans in pleasure, and it’s the worst because he wants to lick the stray smudge of sauce from his cheek. Instead, Mack starts in on his dinner and resigns himself to another two weeks of this madness.

**January 24th**

“Hey, Mack. Did you want to maybe, uh - do you want to watch a movie?”

Glancing up from where he’s been doing sit-ups, Mack has to wipe the sweat from his brow before nodding and pushing up from the floor.

“Yeah, sounds good. Just let me take a quick shower, I’m good with anything you want to watch.”

He grabs a towel and a pair of sweatpants before taking the five long steps that has him in the bathroom. With a grimace, he turns on the shower and shucks his clothes while he waits for the water to heat up. 

Out of all the annoyances of being a large man sharing a very small apartment, the bathroom has to be the worst part. He gets it, honestly. He’s a tall guy. Fair enough, but never in his entire life has Mack felt more like Gulliver than he does here.

The toilet is so low that he’s actually had problems trying to stand back up after using it. The mirror over the sink? Yeah, he has to bend down just to see his face when he’s brushing his teeth in the mornings. Then, of course, there’s the shower. The spray hits him mid-torso, and the shower head itself is shorter than he is by a foot. It’s insane, and once again he finds himself wishing that Coulson would have relocated them once he decided that Fitz would need some backup… but here he is, crouched down in a too-small shower trying to make sure that he manages to rinse himself off properly.

He makes quick work of shutting off the shower and toweling off, pulling his pants on before joining Fitz on the futon. Leaning back against the cushion, he waits for Fitz to set up the laptop before the movie starts.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I was feeling nostalgic.”

Fitz doesn’t bother explaining, curling against Mack’s chest instead and letting the titles do the work for him. It’s  _The Princess Bride_ , and something about sitting here with Fitz watching this movie makes him feel warm inside. This was his favorite movies growing up, and his brothers used to tease him about it endlessly… but there’s nothing quite like watching Dread Pirate Roberts scale the Cliffs of Insanity, or watching Inigo exact revenge upon the six-fingered man. It’s the perfect movie, still one of his favorites, and he wishes that this is something that he could have shared with Fitz outside of the boundaries of their mission.

Cutting that line of thought off before he can pine any further, Mack gets to his feet so that he can push the kitchen table against the far wall. Fitz looks at him with an eyebrow raised, and it’s unfairly cute.

“Just keep watching. I’m going to fold the futon down so that we can lie down, because I am not about to fall asleep sitting up again like the last time we had a movie night.”

Of course, instead of following directions, Fitz hits the pause button so that he can help get their bed ready. It really isn’t a two person job (Hell, it’s not a two person apartment), and it actually takes more time to get the bed ready together than it would have if he did it himself… but it’s nice. It’s nice, and for the millionth time Mack wishes that what they had was more than  _nice._

They get situated again, with Mack stretched out on the mattress behind Fitz - one arm propping up his head up so that he can see the laptop screen, the other arm draped loosely around Fitz’s waist. Westley and Buttercup are leaping out the castle window when he hears Fitz sigh.

“What’s up, Turbo?”

“I just… love this.”

The heroes are riding away on beautiful horses, the former-pirate and his not-quite-princess are about to kiss, and he can’t help but agree.

“Yeah, I always loved this part. My brothers used to give me so much shit, but you really can’t beat this ending.”

There’s a beat of silence and then Fitz is rolling over so that they are face to face. His eyes are wide, and everything in his body language is screaming of anxiety, but the look on his face is pure determination.

“No, not the movie. Us. I love being fake-married to you… and I know - I know that it’s not real, but it feels  _so_  good to come home to you every day. And - and you’re so patient with me, and you’re a cuddler, and you’re  _gorgeous_ … and I’m tired of pretending that this is all just for the benefit of a mission.”

It’s a lot to process. Fitz is earnest and warm, pressed so close against him, and it unhinges something in Mack because he isn’t supposed to have this. He’s not supposed to be able to cup Fitz’s face in his hands before kissing him sweetly, and he’s not supposed to shift on top of him, caging Fitz underneath with his arms. None of it is playing out the way that it should, but for the life of him he can’t come up with a single reason  _why_  he shouldn’t pull Fitz in closer… so he does.

**January 25th**

Fitz’s face is bright red when he returns from the laundry with their freshly cleaned white clothes. His lips are pinched as if he’s been sucking lemons, and Mack is just about to ask him what’s wrong when Fitz bursts out laughing hysterically. Dropping the laundry basket dramatically, he pounces on Mack where he’s still lounging under the covers before burrowing in to join him. It’s quite the feat, considering the laughter that’s shaking the futon, but Mack let’s him get his breath back before pinning him to the mattress.

“What’s so funny?”

“It’s just - I thought you were over exaggerating in the beginning, but you were right. Mrs. Olsen just cornered me by the dryer to let me know how  _happy_  she was that we worked out our problems. Apparently the walls are incredibly thin, and the - uh, lack of intimacy was noticed. You’ll be thrilled to know that she heard us last night, and she congratulated me on my virile yet sensitive husband.”

Suddenly Mack’s face is heated, but he can’t help smiling down at his… at  _Fitz_. They hadn’t had a chance to determine what they were to each other in terms of title, but after last night there was no doubt that they belonged to each other.

“She heard me towards the end there, huh? Can’t say that I’m worried about our elderly neighbor knowing how gorgeous you are, or how long I’ve loved you. Are  _you_ worried about it?”

Fitz pushes up onto his elbows, initiating a kiss that goes from soft to scorching in a matter of minutes.

“I don’t care if everyone knows.”

Pressing back down against Fitz, he can’t help but hum in pleasure at the warmth that pools between them. It’s a level of intimacy that he didn’t expect from Fitz, certainly not while in the middle of a mission.

“Well, maybe we should do it again, make sure that Mrs. Olsen knows that our relationship is better than ever.”

Fitz laughs against his lips, and it’s the most beautiful sound.

**January 29th**

“Hey, I just heard from Coulson. They want us to stay here for at least another month, to see if you can dig further past their firewalls. Apparently the information that you already sent back to the Playground is good, but it’s not enough.”

He had been afraid that Fitz would freak out at the news, that he would demand to speak with Coulson. He had been pacing around their tiny apartment trying to overcome the spark of fear and insecurity that Fitz would be disappointed to be stuck here with him for another month. They still haven’t discussed what the status of their relationship will be once they get back to the Playground, and the uncertainty has been needling at him during the hours that Fitz spends at work. It’s one thing for Fitz to want him now, and he hopes that it won’t be a different story when they are back on base.

From the huge smile on Fitz’s face and the way that he throws himself into Mack’s arms, maybe he shouldn’t have spent the last few hours wearing a path into the carpeting.

“Is it bad that I’m happy we get to stay here a little bit longer? There’s no privacy back at the Playground, and as excited as I am about  _us_ … it’s nice that we get a honeymoon period before everyone gets involved in our relationship.”

Leaning down to kiss a trail down the length of Fitz’s neck, he can’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.

“Yeah, I hear ya, Turbo. It’s not every day that you get to go on honeymoon to exotic Wilmington, Delaware. Next time, though? Coulson is  _totally_  springing for a bigger place. How does he expect us to shower together in that tin can of a bathroom? I mean, I don’t know what relationships are like in Scotland, but people around here generally take showers together when they are happily married.”


End file.
